Gregtech good or bad?

[Shadowsage28]

Hi people i thought that i would open up a discussion on Greg tech so people can get there points of view around the community and so people can explain why they like or dislike it.
I personally think that Greg tech is a great mod as yes the recipes may be more expensive but lets think about this take the solar panel for example you could make them really early game and yes that's all well and good but then you just make a huge array of these and you are pretty much set for the game. making the solar panels harder to make means that you will need to do it toward the end of the game so you don't complete it in what 2 hours flat.
also people always just look at the changed recipes but there are other things like fusion reactors in it which are much cooler than nuclear reactors in my opinion. there's also a lot lot more but i think this posts getting a bit big so I am going to rap it up. i thing Greg tech should stay for the reasons above but what's your opinion guys??
[edit]
people i am going to make this clear this thread is looking at the pros and cons please do not make arguments just post what you think are pros and cons and we will discus them like civilized people.

 

[maylith]

I've been playing Minecraft for over a year, but FTB has brought me to modding, so I don't have a history with the easier recipes that GregTech has changed. I have looked them up however and agree with the mod author that the original recipes are a tad easy for the early IC machines.. My own feeling is that the new recipes are maybe a shade to tough....3 diamonds for the macerator which is among the first machines you build and having to build a coke oven and an infernal furnace so early in game is tough. Also, the first solar cell is pretty tough at first. My personal opinion would be to make the first stage machines slightly less difficult and make the faster upgraded machine slightly more difficult....but that is just me. Also, same for the solar cells....1st stage shouldn't need materials from the industrial centrifuge, but the second stage should be harder or more expensive....my suggestion would be Advanced solar cells need 2 of the 1st stage cells..and/or stuff from the industrial centrifuge

 

[Mikey_R]

I should mention that the advanced solars aren't actually part of Gregtech, just the basic solar recipe change is.

I will say, I like the centrifuge, I don't know why exactly, I guess I just like the concept. I also agree with some things, like the steel for the drill. I feel you shouldn't have a drill after just 1 or 2 mining trips.

 

[gendai351]

until ee3 is included all of these recipes are overpriced

 

[Narcisism]

It's okay. I think it WOULD be better if it didn't do the stuff with other mods. It's basically forcing you to play vanilla for awhile, and when you've played Minecraft since Indev, vanilla can be VERY boring. Not my thing. I tend to disable the quarry, macerator, and solar panel changes, but I haven't played with it much, so there might be more I need to do. Like steel for the drill. Don't like that, much. Steel tools are the same as or better than diamond, so a drill that mines like Iron shouldn't need steel.

I DO like the GregTech stuff that isn't changed recipes, and I don't even mind the matter fabricator when combined with some of Greg's ways of getting energy. Scrap is cheap
The fusion reactor is awesome, the lightning rod sounds cool (but I have no idea how to use it...) and a lot of the stuff in it would be rather fun for giving me a reason to play around with IC2 beyond the basic crap, but a lot of the changes just make me go "Oooooor I could use Thermal Expansion to do the same thing for MUCH cheaper..."

So uh... yeah. It's got its pros and cons. I don't really like that he's trying to make IC2 an end-game thing. Sure, I could wait till end-game to double my ores, but uh... why? What am I going to need them for, at that point? I'd rather have the full spectrum of progression.

So uh.... FINAL VERDICT: Turn off the expensive recipes that make getting started take FOREVER, and it's good. Leave them on and it's bad. Not putting in an actual vote until you put an option for "It's okay" or "It's good with the changed recipes turned off".

 

[Jugg3rV]

i hope ee3 will never be included until it's balanced.
EDit, and pls not another thread about GrecTec. There are like 10000.

 

[frederikam]

I strongly recommend the map pack team to modify the config, to make this mod easier and more enjoyable.

 

[sciguyryan]

As I have said on numerous occasions there are some things in the configs that I believe should be changed. As a whole I see nothing wrong with the GregTech addon however.

 

[WTFFFS]

I strongly recommend the map pack team to modify the config, to make this mod easier and more enjoyable.

I strongly recommend the map pack team to leave the config as is, to make the game more challenging and enjoyable.

 

[sciguyryan]

I strongly recommend the map pack team to leave the config as is, to make the game more challenging and enjoyable.

I think the point people have made is some of the changes are not challenging and in fact some of them are confusing for new users. The need for a compressor to compress 9 diamonds into one diamond block for example does not seem to have a real usefulness. The use of steel, while I would consider it to be tedious and pointless, at least it adds some worth in going to the nether early.

Some things could do with some tweaking but the configs as they are now are not completely terrible.

 

[WTFFFS]

I think the point people have made is some of the changes are not challenging and in fact some of them are confusing for new users. The need for a compressor to compress 9 diamonds into one diamond block for example does not seem to have a real usefulness. The use of steel, while I would consider it to be tedious and pointless, at least it adds some worth in going to the nether early.

Some things could do with some tweaking but the configs as they are now are not completely terrible.

The compressor to make blocks I truthfully like since it makes more sense than "I just stick these on a table and they become a block", the steel yeah it's a bit of a pain to get it early but that is kinda the point you will make a Drill\Chainsaw and never make another sword\pick\shovel\axe having the recipe use steel puts the point where you stop making tools further forward. I'm finding that around the time you can support a full range of processing solutions and are thinking about automating those solutions you have the tools that allow you to need to automate them.

Also the latest version adds a tool that only works on pick targets other than ores, which is fairly cheap to make, so after an update to the pack some of the annoyance may be mitigated (of course some may not be the diamond drill gets much more expensive, which I don't mind really I've never actually used the standard drill up until now, as does the mining laser lol)

 

[sciguyryan]

The compressor to make blocks I truthfully like since it makes more sense than "I just stick these on a table and they become a block", the steel yeah it's a bit of a pain to get it early but that is kinda the point you will make a Drill\Chainsaw and never make another sword\pick\shovel\axe having the recipe use steel puts the point where you stop making tools further forward. I'm finding that around the time you can support a full range of processing solutions and are thinking about automating those solutions you have the tools that allow you to need to automate them.

I can't argue with that. But at the same time you put three diamond and two sticks into a crafting table and they magically form a pickaxe. Its the same principal. I understand the logic behind it but the logic is faulty when you compare it with many other items in the game and this is what my problem with it is: it confuses new users. Consistency if key to user understanding and in the end that chance isn't consistent with most other things in Minecraft.

 

[ScottWears]

Hey guys I just want to remind everyone that we have had this discussion before here and it turned a bit sour. I relies that this thread is discussing the pro's and con's of the mod But I would like to remind all members of the rules found here

1. Be respectful. No racist, sexist or homophobic comments will be tolerated.
2. Be polite do not use obscenities or engage in name-calling.

Please keep the thread on the topic of good or bad and not whether or not Gregtech should be included and in what manner

 

[Bluehorazon]

First we should bring some new information to the discussion.

1. GregTech will have a Jackhammer soon. Although it is not a mining-drill it breaks all kind of stone very fast. So all you have to do is use a pickaxe for Ores.
2. GregTech will include a new Solar-Panel in the future. It will not replace the old one but will be avaible very early in the game. It will be a multiblock-structure, that is not very efficient but provides constant EU as long as the sun shines.

Second we should look at the problems of having GregTech in FTB.

1. Since there is no complete FTB-Wiki yet GregTech can cause a lot of confusion.
2. Having HardRecipes in GregTech but not in other Mods feels kinda weird. I'm exspecially looking at the Induction Smelter and the Pulverizer.
3. The Mod is in a very fluid development-stage. A lot of things change very rapidly, which provides additional confusion.

Special rule-changes have no real mean. They reason why people complain is because they are not used to it. If you are used to creating Storage-Blocks in the compressor you won't have a problem, since it isn't that expansive or time-consuming, because compressors are so cheap. But the problem is that you need to know that you have to make them inside a compressor.

 

[b0bst3r]

I like gregtech but I don't think the majority will because it makes the "natural" route you took in other previous mod packs much harder to do..

For instance the natural progression for Tekkit would have been generator > macerator > extractor > furnace > compressor, once you got to there you start on replacing the generator with either geothermals or solar.

Since FTB makes solar a mid to top end solution to power you can hear people screaming, rather than figuring in any alternative ways to do the above progression.

With thermal expansion that gen > Mac >extra ...etc is not the best way to go (well personally I don't think it is anyway), get yourself an Induction Smelter from the off and you're going to be way in front of the macerator route. The only thing I can see you will need a macerator for is crunching coal into coal dust which the pulverisor doesn't do.

For too long Modded MC has been much much too easy and within 1-2 days play a player has everything, Gregtech goes some way to adding longevity to the game and makes for a much higher end game.

 

[sciguyryan]

Special rule-changes have no real mean. They reason why people complain is because they are not used to it. If you are used to creating Storage-Blocks in the compressor you won't have a problem, since it isn't that expansive or time-consuming, because compressors are so cheap. But the problem is that you need to know that you have to make them inside a compressor.

That is exactly my point. It isn't difficult, it isn't costly and it is hard for new people to follow. All of those together suggest its a bad thing it is enabled by default.

I'm really not against things being difficult. I enjoy a challenge. I do not however enjoy tedium and pointless extra steps where they need not be added. That is my problem with the whole thing. I generally agree that a lot of the other things in there are fine. I even (somewhat) agree with steel for the IC2 mining drill because I find the idea of encouraging people to go into the nether soon quite interesting, even if it is not difficult.

 

[Bluehorazon]

That is exactly my point. It isn't difficult, it isn't costly and it is hard for new people to follow. All of those together suggest its a bad thing it is enabled by default.

I don't think it is difficult for new people. They will propably ask once, but they won't question the design. It is actually a problem for not so clever people that are used to do things differently.

New people will expect that a pack as large as FTB will have some changes, even to vanilla-mechanics (it actually already changes village-generation and biomes, so changing the recipe for storage-blocks is rather minor). They will just do things in a way that fits with the actual modpack. The problem is more likely with tekkit-migration and such, since those are people that never touched gregs (well... he did a sengir to prevent this), but are used to most of the other functionality.

And well... I see no real difference if I toss all the stuff into a compressor or a packager/autocrafting-table. It's just different functionality. If you have so much copper etc. that you are able to build a house with it or need to store it more efficiently, you propably could effort some compressors

 

[Huene]

Honestly the only problem I have with Gregtech is that NEI recipe mode tends to contradict it, I am hoping that can be resolved as a default option in the mod pack. And I am curious if there are any options to resolve that on a single client until that is an option globally?

 

[Omicron]

Huene, that's not a problem with GregTech or NEI, it's a config file mismatch between client and server.

There can be mismatches if the server is running the very first release but the client updated. And since clients update automatically and servers don't, you can pretty much expect this to happen on any "first hour" server. Basically, the clients got an updated config that the server doesn't have, but the server has the final say about recipes. So even though the client sees the recipes in NEI that are valid for its version, the server says "no, my config is different, you're not allowed to craft that".

This has already been fixed for quite a while. Please ask your server admin to copy a GregTech config file from an updated client to the server directory.


As for the topic:

GregTech is, in my opinion, a good mod that offers many interesting things to players. However, it is not a mod that you can just slap onto your client and enjoy. If you want to be happy with GregTech, you absolutely need to go the extra mile and read up on the config file. That's why the GregTech wiki has an extra section devoted to that very thing.

People's gripes with the mod usually are not "I hate everything about it", but rather they are "I like X and Y, and Z is really cool, but this one feature here just kills it all for me." And that's exactly why you need the config file - to turn off that one thing that kills it for you, so you can enjoy all the other stuff that is really cool.

 

[Narcisism]

My problem with GregTech is that it doesn't really add any more difficulty to the beginning of the game. It just adds more stuff that I have to do before I can get to the stuff I like doing: Building cool contraptions. I have to spend more time playing "vanilla" Minecraft before I can start enjoying the mods, and I don't really want that. There are people who enjoy vanilla as much as they enjoy mods, and they might not have a problem with it. But I am not one of those people.

As for the compressor making storage blocks: If you have enough resources that you need to make them into blocks, you can probably afford to make a few compressors. However, with Factorization, I don't like that feature. Because it makes the packager useless. So I turn that one off, just because I really like Factorization's packager. I personally think that that's one of those features that isn't really troublesome if you know it's there, unless you like to just store your ores in block form to start with.

As for my opinions on GregTech in the FTB map: I think it would work best if you kept the original recipes on most things, then added GregTech for an upper tier bit. The matter fabricator is probably one of the changes I would keep, simply because it doesn't cost anything extra to build it. Just to run it. Which is fine by me. I also wouldn't object MUCH to keeping the changed solar recipe, but I'd admittedly prefer to have solar panels be cheaper. They don't produce enough EU to need a Carbon Plate in my opinion. At 1EU/t, they would take a LONG time to pay for themselves. The new GregTech solar may make that entire bit a moot point, though.
Needing a rolling machine to make MM Ingots is pretty much fine by me. I tend to make one of those pretty early, anyway, and other than that it's no different than making it in a crafting table, except that it needs a tiny bit of MJ to do it. By the time I start needing MM Ingots, I usually have a BioMass factory set up, and a ton of BioGas engines running, so that's not a problem either, for me.

As I mentioned earlier, the drill needing steel makes no sense to me, and pretty much makes it worthless. A steel tool shouldn't work like an iron tool. It's better than that. That seems to be more expensive for the sake of being more expensive. What would be a good change is removing the diamond tipped drill, and replacing it with a steel tipped drill, crafted similarly. Or perhaps make the diamond tipped drill need one diamond and two steel instead of three diamonds. Or even make a new drill that's better than the diamond drill, and uses steel instead. Either way, Steel for the regular drill is not the way to go.

Overall, I think GregTech would be much better as an optional mod in the pack, considering the immensely polarized It would be downloaded and disabled by default, or something similar.
Come to think of it, someone should really set up a "Pack Customizer" similar to the customizer thing that Rhodox uses for his Painterly Texture Pack. I should figure out how to code that >.>